(The Center Square) – Former Romulus Mayor LeRoy Burcroff, 59, was sentenced to three years probation with four months home confinement following his theft and misuse of more than $15,000 in campaign funds.
Burcroff was elected mayor in 2014 and established a committee to elect fund entitled, “Committee to Elect LeRoy D. Burcroff.” Court documents say over two-and-a-half years, Burcroff defrauded donors to his CTE account by using these campaign funds for his personal benefit rather than for his election.
For example, in November 2017, Burcroff spent more than $3,500 of his campaign donors’ money to pay for a family member’s wedding. Burcroff spent the CTE money on a church fee, a banquet room rental, flowers and the wedding bar tab. In 2017 and 2018, Burcroff used CTE funds to pay more than $11,600 in dues and expenses to a yacht club.
On multiple occasions, Burcroff overpaid his yacht club dues using his campaign account. The yacht club would issue a refund that Burcroff deposited in his personal bank account.
In 2018, Burcroff made a $1,000 donation of campaign funds to a trade industry with the hope he would receive a promotion at his private sector job. In 2019, Burcroff spent more than $4,000 of campaign funds on a vacation to Florida with friends.
United States Attorney Dawn Ison welcomed the sentence.
“Trust in our state’s campaign finance system is a critical component of a healthy representative democracy,” Ison said in a statement. “Mr. Burcroff’s conviction and sentence underscores our commitment to ensuring that the citizens of the Eastern District are represented by public officials who have integrity and are seeking office not for their self-interest, but for the good of the people they are elected to represent.”
